Table Of Content

THE EVIDENCE O F THINGS NOT SEEN Murray did his Devil's Dance on each microscopic stance Recording his impressions of the view; There was green ice in the chimneys and black ice at the crux And not a single piton or a screw - Bi~lludo f Bill Murruj. by Tom Pare! The Evidence of Things Not Seen Foreword by Hamish Maclnnes Biiton Wicks London by rhe same uurhor (*fic,rion) MOUNTAINEERING IN SCOTLAND ROCK CLIMBS: GLENCOE AND ARDGOUR (guidehook) UNDISCOVERED SCOTLAND THE SCOTTISH HIMALAYAN EXPEDITION THE STORY OF EVEREST FIVE FRONTIERS* THE SPURS OF TROODOS* MAELSTROM* HIGHLAND LANDSCAPE THE CRAFT OF CLIMBING (brirh J E. B. Wright) DARK ROSE THE PHOENIX* THE HEBRIDES COMPANION GUIDE TO THE WEST HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND THE REAL MACKAY* THE ISLANDS OF WESTERN SCOTLAND THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS THE CURLING COMPANION ROB ROY MACGREGOR - HIS LIFE AND TIMES SCOTLAND'S MOUNTAINS Frontispiece: Michael Ward and Bill Murray at Namche Bazar in 1951 during their seminal Everest Reconnaissance Expedition that paved the way for the strong Swiss attempts in 1952 and the historic first ascent in 1953. Photo: Eric Shipton ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 wish to thank Professor Donald 8. Maclntyre for permission to quote from his funeral address in my epilogue and for conferring on matters both serious and humorous. My thanks also go to Dr Euan A.M. MacAlpine for letters from his archives to Dr Robert Aitken and to Hamish Maclnnes for writing the Foreword. Many others have helped with photographs or advice including help while writing the book. Tom Weir. John Tyson. Michael Ward, Douglas Scott. Gordon Stainforth. Peter Hodgkiss. Terry Offord. Terry Gifford and the executors of the late, well-known Glasgow portrait photographer J. Stephens Orr for the cover photograph. The individual photographers are all credited near their entries The late Tony Colwell. a senior editor of Jonathan Cape, gave me valued advice at a crucial stage; Betty Patey gave me permission to use Tom's verse on page I. Thanks also go to Alastair Robertson and Jack Webster for permission to quote from their work, and Marcia Newbold for granting use of the letters of her father (Geoffrey Winthrop Young) in Appendix Ill. Others who have helped include John Bowles (National Library of Scotland). JelT Connor, Sarah Bojard (Royal Photographic Society). Roy Humble. Sir Edmund Hillary, Des Rubens and John Lyall. 1 would also like to thank Jennifer MacMillan for help with typing and deciphering and Julie Campbell for being a wise sounding board. A.B.M. 2002 Published in 2002 in Great Britain by Biton Wicks, London. Copyright 0 2002 by Anne B. Murray Trade enquiries to Cordee, 3a DeMontfort Street. Leicester LEI 7HD All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced. stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means. electronic, mechanical. photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cululoguing in Publicutiun Dutu: A catalogue entry for this book can be obtained from the British Library ISBN 1-898573-24-7 Typeset by Vitaset, Paddock Wood. Printed and bound in Great Britain by Butler and Tanner. Frome CONTENTS Maps and Photographs Foreword by Humish Muc-lnnrs Introductory Note Early Years 1 Twists of the Thread 2 Siren Song Pre-War Climbing in Scotland 3 Rocks and Climbers 4 Renaissance: 1930s 5 The Winter Ascent of Garrick's Shelf Fortunes of War 6 The Home Front 7 North Africa 8 To Iraq and Cyprus 9 The Battle of the Cauldron Incarceration 10 Stone Walls: Chieti 11 To Bavaria and Bohemia 12 Brunswick The Post-War World 13 Home 14 The Right Holds 15 Freedom Decisions to Make - 16 First Steps 17 The Alps: Highs and Lows First Expeditions to the Himalaya 18 Introduction to the Garhwal 19 To the Rishi Gorge 20 Attempts on Bethartoli Himal and Hunaman 21 Mountaineering and Medicine in Dunagiri 22 The Ascent of Uja Tirche and an attempt on Lampak South 23 Through the Girthi Gorge to Milam 24 The Ralam Pass and Panch Chuli 25 Untrodden Ranges: Around Menlungste and Gaurisankar Exploring the Api Massif 26 Approach to Api: The Kali Gorge 27 Api and Nampa 28 Yokapahar Himal - Warnings 29 Tibet - Into Chinese Held Territory 30 The Seti Gorge 31 A Meeting with the Rajah of Bajhang Everest and the Muztagh Tower 32 Everest and the Muztagh Tower: the seemingly impossible overcome Concerns Closer to Home 33 Return to Scotland 34 The Cragsmen of Lewis 35 The Life of Ben Humble - Tribute to a Fighter 36 A Writer's World 37 Conservation 38 Tomorrow Epilogue Appendices I Murray's Books, Plays and Articles I1 Sundry Correspondence 111 Writing about Climbing and Mountain Landscape IV The Rob Roy Affair V Publishing and the Practicalities of the Writing Business Index Maps The retreat to El Alamein. 79 GarhwaYKamaon: the route of the 1950 Scottish Expedition. I50 Detailed maps of the 1950 Garhwal expedition. 1% West of Everest: Movements of the 1951 Reconnaissance Expedition. 212 The NampdApi Massif. 222 Photographs illusrrurions ut the beginning oj'cudr scrrron The author as a schoolboy, c. 1923. Murruj, collection On the summit of Sgurr Alasdair, 1936. Douglus Scorr In the Western Desert, 1942. Murra?, collection Prison camp near Brunswick, 1944. Murray collrction Lochwood by Loch Goil. Argyll, c. 1948. Murrujl c.ollec.tlon Bridging the Rishiganga, 1950. Tom Weir Crossing the Tinkar Lipu Pass, 1953. John Ssott Everest from the west. Murray c-ollt.ction The Muztagh Tower. Vittorio Sellu (Srlla Fourtdution) The author checking proofs. Louis Carson (Murruj' collection) UISOin the text Michael Ward and Bill Murray at Namche Bazar, 195 1. Eric Sttipton Four family photographs. Murray collection The author at Glasgow Academy. Murray collec.rion On the road to Glen Coe. Douglas Scott The cliffs of Buachaille Etive Mor. Km Wilson Ben Nevis and the CIC Hut. Colin Sreud and Tony Riley J.H.B. Bell. Frank Smyrhe In Crowberry Gully. Ken Crocker Crowberry Gully and Garrick's Shelf. Hantish Macltmes The author in hospital in Gap. Murray collection Loading Jbopas. Douglas Scott At the Ralam Pass. Douglas Scott A hemp field in the Seti Valley. John fison The Rajah of Bajhang. John Tyson The scout group of Chainpur School. John Ty.son Rope bridge over the Kali Gad. John Tyson Ben Humble. John Cleare Cruach Ardrain from Stob Garbh. A. D.S. MacPherson illusrrurions berw-eeti puges 64 und 65 Pre-war climbing inScotland; war experiences; view from the Cioch. illusrrations be!~veenp uges 192 und I93 The Scottish Himalayan expedition, 1950; west of Everest, 195 1. illusrrations between puges 256 urrd 257 The ApiINampa Expedition, 1953; Everest's Khumbu Icefall. 1951. illusrrurions berbc~enp uges 288 und 289 Lochwood; on Sron na Ciche: SMC I JMCS members with GeotTrey Winthrop Young; the paperback launch of Roh Ro,.M acGregor; the Scottish mountain landscape; Anne Murray; an ascent of Stac of Handa; Glen Nevis WINTER NlGHT -- GLEN COE The hills lie White on the sky Moon cold and still. And I Spraying frost From the bound, gagged grass Listen for life. But sound is lost Held Fastened to ice. Stars move In themselves In the sky Throwing sparks To fire smothered snow Blazing below While I Ringing night From the close barred earth Search for keys Listen for life. Foreword by Hamish MacInnes I first met Bill Murray on an icy February night in 1947 in the car-park of the Royal Hotel, Tyndrum. I was with a group of climbers travelling back to Glasgow in a mountaineering club bus. Around, the snow-covered hills and moors were bathed in moonlight. A car drew up with a group of SMC types including George Roger whom I knew. He introduced me to Bill and we stood together gazing at the mountains. 1 was immediately struck by his presence which seemed to have a spiritual quality. Indeed, as I learned later, he had spent time in a Benedictine monastery. He seemed to me, as a young and impressionable climber, to convey the image of a frugal, contemplative eagle. As an avid consumer of climbing literature I had already devoured Bill's articles in the magazine Open Air in Scotland. Mountaineering in Scotland had just been published and this book captivated me, as it did thousands of climbers throughout the land. Bill had a magical gift of encapsulating a scene in a way we all felt, but could never express. Acknowledged as one of our greatest descrip- tive writers, he involves all who read him. For an ambitious climber it was his ability to get quickly to the centre of the action that I found particularly inspiring. Bill was a free spirited adventurer, who could visualise sermons in stones and prose in the clarity of a mountain stream. I often wondered if his choice of Geoffrey Winthrop Young's poem 'Knight Errantry' for the preface of Mountuineering in Scotland was inspired from within the confines of a prison camp: There is a region of heart's desire - free for the hand that wills It was during his prisoner-of-war years that he took up meditation, a practice which he continued all his life. This was reflected in his writings which often had a mystical quality. May it not be possible, by some practical method to help one's mind to grow in awareness of beauty, to develop that faculty of perception which we frustrate and FOREWORD stunt if we do not exercise? The answer is that growth may be given to the spiritual faculty as simply as growth and health are given to the body by awakening it from slumber, and providing nourishment and then by giving hard exercise. In this work there is no static position: one goes on, or one drops back. Therefore, and above all persist. - On the double traverse of the Aonach Eagach Ridge of Glen Coe with Donald McIntyre in February 1947 he describes the scene as they linger on the summit of Meall Dearg awaiting dawn's first light: We knew, as surely as men know anything on earth, that the implacable hunter had drawn close ... One's ear caught the ringing of his footstep: and one's eye gleams like the flashing of a shield. In a strange way Bill's earlier mountain life appears entwined in the theme of 'Knight Errantry' - the urge to search and appreciate, the need to proclaim through his writings. Tom Patey - also a gifted writer - took up the theme in his 'Ballad of Bill Murray': In that Tournament on Ice, Death or Glory was the price For those knights in shining armour long ago - You must forage for yourself on that ghastly Garrick's Shelf With every handhold buried deep in snow. In the post-war years Himalayan exploration became one of Bill's driving passions. With Douglas Scott, Tom Weir and Tom McKinnon he took part in the Scottish Himalayan Expedition in 1950, a small time venture, big in achieve- ment, run on the 'old pals' principle pioneered by Longstaff, Shipton and Tilman, all of whom Bill admired. As well as bagging three virgin peaks and attempting several others, they succeeded in getting through the Girthi Gorge to connect two great trade routes across the Himalaya to Central Asia. In 1951, having organised the expedition from Loch Goil, he was with Ward, Shipton, and others in what was to prove to be the crucial Everest reconnassaince prior to the first ascent. This was followed by fascinating explorations around Cho Oyu, Menlungtse and Gaurisankar. In 1953, with John Tyson, there was the circumnavigation and exploration of the ApiINampa range which included a dangerous foray into Chinese-occupied Tibet. Bill's contribution to the conservation of the environment was vast. He was a latter day John Muir; in fact he was a founding trustee of the John Muir Trust. He has influenced important allies who wield big sticks; A1 Gore, when US Vice